History in New India

 

Concept note

 

History in New India

DN Jha Memorial Meet

Ish Mishra

India is passing through a dark tunnel of history, particularly since the ascendance to power of regressive political forces with ideological patronage of RSS seeking to pervert the history by inventing greatness in some imagined past. Fascist forces seek to chauvinistic political mobilization by depriving people of their authentic history and instead indoctrinating them with distorted history. Ever since the BJP came to power, one of its central concerns has been to rewrite history with concocted past events. Prof. DN Jha had been one of the historians to take a clear stand against and challenge the misrepresentation and distortion of history with communal motives, as is evidenced in his rebuttal of misrepresentation of historical events by the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi in his election speeches or joining forces with other historians to come out with historical facts against the communal mobilization for the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Prof. Jha has been the important pillar of the genre of modern historians, consisting of DD Kosambi, KP Jaiswal, Rahul Sankrityayan, RS Sharma, Romila Thapar and DN Jha, a new school of modern historiography of ancient Indian history. He has been the integral part of the progressive historians, who provided a scientific perspective to the writing of ancient Indian history. He shall be badly missed in a situation, when the BJP government is moving ahead with the full-fledged plan to distort the Indian history. Within a year of coming to power it constituted a committee for rewriting the history with the purpose of glorifying the Indian past. Prof. Jha had been prompt in the rebuttal of false and motivated utterances about ancient Indian History by Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Modi about Texila being in Bihar or Alaxander’s adventures in Bihar. The textbook Ancient India by Prof. Jha is a masterpiece, reading of which can equip even a lay person with a broad understanding of our ancient past.

 

Peoples’ Mission takes pride in being part of organizing a meet in his memory to discuss writing of history in New India, inaugurated with the BJP’s coming to power in India, by his fellow prominent historians – Prof. Irfan Habib; Prof. Sireen Moosvi, Prof. Harbans Mukhia & Prof. Vishwa Mohan Jha.

 

Ish N. Mishra

For and on behalf of

Peoples’ Mission